Here is a trick for you. When your done rinsing and getting all pins out, stuff the tumbler with the brass you just cleaned and a couple 12" x 12" or so micro towels and let it run for 15 minutes. Brass dry and shiny. No more ovens, dehydrators or waiting for it to dry in open air!!!!! Try it, you'll like it😀
I still run a vibratory cleaner . It's what I started with at a time when that was state of the art . (Been a minute ! ) I still load on a single stage press too . As you can tell I'm not in much of a hurry !! LOL!!
Single stage press gives you far better precision than any progressive does. I load on TWO single stage presses (tempted to add a third) so I don't have to keep swapping out dies. 8)
@Wayne Smith I use a RockChucker for my primary press... but I don't subject my secondary press to any large stress so I just use a cheap little Lee for that.
@@timhofstetter5654 Buy the cheap Lee "O" press and get the " Ram Prime II" kit , and use it as a dedicated priming platform... precise, great feel for seating, super easy to feel when the primer is properly bottomed-out without crushing or leaving one " high".
@@scottcrawford3745 I refuse to install a prime arm on my press (which was equipped with a prime arm but I removed it); a prime arm is an excellent way to have a small explosion right on the press. Instead, I just grab up a few flats of primers and my Lee Auto Prime (round tray) and take them to the living room where I can hand-prime all evening. No press can give me THAT level of sensitivity. I did buy the cheapo G-shaped Lee press; I have my powder measure set up on that right now. Saves me a breakdown / setup, and I can seat bullets immediately after charging the cases. BTW... Lee has discontinued the press-mounted feeder...
I usually use a lyman corn cob tumbler for 12 hrs - the media comes out fairly black! Protip: You do not have to buy new media; put the dirty corn cob in an old cut off stocking tie the end off and wash it well in a laundry tub with detergent. spread on trays in a very low oven to dry and its like new. I have not bought any new media for 12 years this way lol
I started with a vibratory cleaner which does make a lot of dust and my cases didn’t get very clean. The media was everywhere and more than often clogged the primer pockets. When I purchased a Frankford Arsenal wet tumbler and the difference was like day and night. I also incorporated a case drier into my cleaning procedure, now my cases are clean and dry. Another thing to take into consideration is your lead level. My level was at twelve using a vibratory cleaner and went to five after making the change. The following year I started to use D-Lead soap every time I handled ammo components and my lead level is now at three. I also use the cleaner additive that came from Frankford Arsenal and it does better than all the other formulas off the internet.
Yup I’m sold I’m getting a wet tumbler I have 500 really dirty old tarnished even a tiny bit of rusty gold medal match casings and my media tumblers not doing the job at all Thank you for this awesome comparison I’ve been watching so many videos and no one’s done a straight forward test like this thank you very much it’s made my choice between ultrasonic and wet tumbling so much easier
Been using splash of simple green in water with stainless pins in rotary tumbler for a long time. I separate pins, do a quick fresh water rinse and then air dry. Works very well. I’ve heard food dehydrators do very well speeding up the dry time.
I have the Hornady never had any issues with it I use cap full of the Hornady cleaner and a dash of dawn dish soap works wonders, as far as the heat goes on there it can get super hot if it is super dirty brass I will usually run it for 30 mins no heat then change out water and add fresh cleaner and run for 30 mins with heat. We all have our little tricks we have learned over the course of our adventures
Thanks for sharing CrazyScotsman! I still haven’t found anything that works as well as the steel pins though. It is interesting to hear all the different methods. Thanks for sharing .
Ultrasonic cleaners actually heat the water while they are running even without an external heat source. If I remember correctly it is due to all of the friction caused by the ultrasonic waves. It takes a fair amount of time for this action to heat up a solution so they put heaters in some ultrasonic units or recommend starting with warm water to ensure that you are cleaning more efficiently at the start.
I use a sonic cleaner on heat with distilled water and Simple Clean to get the grime off of it, rinse them then dry and run through the dry tumbler with corn cob media with Dillons polish to polish the brass up and they come out looking brand new with a high polish. I would compare it to a new Hornady case and they look pretty similar.
Feed this mixture into your ultrasonic cleaner and let it run it for just 15-20 minutes at 150-160 F (65-70 C), it will be cleaner than anything you see here on the inside (outside similar to the rotary trumbler). 1 quart of tap water (approx. 1 liter) 1 cup of vinegar (approx. 2,5 deciliter) 1 tablespoon of salt (normal salt used for cooking) 1 tablespoon of dishwashing liquid (I suggest using a good one) You can use the mixture several times but I suggest leaving it at the local recycling plant when it is no longer effective, it contains a lot of lead etc (DONT pour into the drain). Greetings from Sweden.
I use a lyman vibritory and it has a vented lid. I placed a heavy terry cloth towel and then carbon filter between lid and bowl. It collects all dust. Can be washed or replaced inexpensively. Towels .50$ at wally world and filter under 10$ that can be cut into many. I also add fitz pollish to media (walnut untreated) and pollish's nice and keeps finver prints from setting in brass. But do have to run fo about 2 to 3 hours on really dirty stuff.
By your testing, wet tumbling was the clear winner for one hour. Dry tumbling goes longer. A better test would involve cost, time, value, etc... I dry tumble and not seen the need for wet. Brass comes out great. I go from 1-4 hours depending if I remember its running in the shed. :-) Soon as it's cleaned, it's reloaded and soon after, unloaded. Just cannot fathom the effort for wet cleaning unless you're making a presentation bullet.
Wet tumbling is supposed to remove almost all of the lead from the priming compound. Wet tumbling, media separation and drying takes about an hour longer per gallon of brass though. Honestly, it's a tedious pain. Unless maybe I was running 1ce fired brass that was already pretty clean, I still had brass come out dirty after 3 hours in the vibratory tumbler, where the wet tumbled brass is shiny and looks almost new. I never tried corncob, I always used walnut, which I heard was better.
@@TheSuburban15 corncob does break down. i prefer a Walnut as well. i usually load up the vibratory Tumblr and let it run overnight with about a tablespoon of brass polish in it. the biggest issue with ultrasonic cleaners is the duty cycle. most will only run at about 10 minutes per cycle, and you're not supposed to run more than about 45 minutes continuous or the transducers can burn out.
I wet tumble. Used to use pins but switched to stainless granules. Small enough to easily empty out of the 223 but large enough to not plug the flash hole. Larger granules can sometimes stay behind in the brass after tumbling. After rinsing, I use the media separator to get most of the water out, dump them in an old towel and shake them up, dump them in another towel, shake them up again and then lay them out on a dry towel to finish drying. Brass looks like jewelry.
@@XRING I get the occasional pins stuck in the flash hole of brass now and then but I sort by headstamp so its easy to spot. I've never had any issues with pins getting stuck in suppressor pistons or baffles though. One gallon of water, two tablespoons of Dawn, and one teaspoon of Lemi Shine does the trick for me on a full load.
Couple of observations, I use a Franklin tumbler with dawn and lime shine no SS pins. Repurposed an old food dehydratator to dry. Makes the process pretty simple 3 hour turn around. I do this for rifle and pistol. Thanks for all the videos.
I have heard of some good results wet tumbling with no pins. Although I can typically get my brass clean enough in my dry tumbler in an hour to an hour and a half and I don't have to worry about drying time. I am running pure walnut media with about a cap full of 3M polish at the start of each run.
I have been reloading 40 years , media tumbled , ultra sonick and now I " wet tumble " with the stainless pins . I have some media tumblers and two ultra sonic's for sale ! You really need the whole " wet tumble " package to make it fast . I have the tumbler of course , but I also purchased the " rotary basket separator " and " the heat dryer " . The basket separator removes all the pins from my cases quickly and makes it simple to place them back into the tumbler , my dryer has 6 trays and a fan with heat and drys cases in less than an hour. The beauty of wet tumbling is the cases look brand new , the inside of the case is just as clean as the outside and the primer pockets are clean . I love it , on a day off I have wet tumbled 3,000 5.56 cases in a day in between loading. The only down side of the wet tumbler is that you really need an outside sink with water if you like being married " which I do " Both , have an outside sink and like being married .
Just a suggestion for the dry media vibratory tumbler, try using 1 o 2 sheets of USED dryer softener sheets (each cut in half to help with wrapping around you center post) This helps with the dust problem. Just a thought.
I was on a budget and bought a rock tumbler and stainless pins. I run 50 for about 1.5 hours.Works real well. Just time consuming rinsing and drying as you described. Thanks again
Add some white vinegar to the ultrasonic cleaner. That mild acid helps clean the primer pockets much better. I use a bit of Dawn, Lemi Shine and about a half cup of vinegar. Works great. To dry, I place them on a cookie sheet, with a towel between the brass and the cookie sheet, and place them in a 200 degree oven for about a half hour. In the summer, it's much easier since I can just place the cookie sheet out in the hot sun (in Texas) for about an hour. There's no need to buy an expensive brass dryer. Just get an inexpensive food dehydrator and use that to dry your brass. I'll be buying one soon.
I run an ultrasonic cleaner with dish soap and Lemi shine instead of the Lyman brass cleaner I was using first. I get brand new looking brass after two 25 minute cycles at 104deg. This includes spotless primer pockets as well as the entire interior of the case. I then rinse them with warm water in a colander in the sink and dry them in walnut media(from the pet store reptile section). Without the walnut tumble they are clean but slightly less glossy and you can see the scratches that they've picked up from resizing and/or cycling in semi-auto. BTW I deprime as first step. If the cases are covered in mud or carbon then I tumble them in walnut for 30 minutes before deprime. This works great for me for about 3 years and has kept me from considering a wet tumbler. I couldn't get them any cleaner, and I'd still be doing a wash-->rinse-->dry. Which is still 3 steps.
Change the subject a little , I learned something yesterday. That a few of the new pistol finishes on the market can not be cleaned in a ultra sonic cleaner nor can quite a few nite sights without damage. And that is from the manufacturers.
Over the years I have tried all 3...and hands down the wet tumbling with stainless pins is by far the best for clean brass. The Lemi-shine is used to "soften" the water so the detergent cleans better. If you have really hard water you will need to use a tad more then someone who has very soft water. And NEVER leave brass in the tumbler overnight! LOL I won a Lyman wet tumbler and media separator and they have both given me great service!
@@hub_s550 I believe the Lemi-shine aids in cleaning as well. If you are worried about it try it without on a batch of brass and with on another and see which turns out better. Just go easy on the lemi-shine a little goes a very long way. More than a teaspoon is typically a waste and too much can turn the brass funny colors.
I have all 3 types of cleaners. The stainless pins with Dawn and Lemishine works the best in the shortest time but you have to take into account the drying time. I use a food dehydrator to dry mine. I only use the ultrasonic cleaner to clean gun parts now. It never worked that well for me. I do still use the vibratory cleaner some with brass polish added. It is noisy but I set it up to run and leave it for a couple of hours. I don't like the dust but it works pretty well and I can leave the brass in it if I am in a hurry. Good video by the way.
I normally run about 1 and a half hours on Frankford Arsenal Platinum with Dawn dish soap and Lemon Shine dishwasher additive. Shine brass makes you happy!
Great video Ray, I’ve been trying a similar way, the wet tumbler without steel pins. You don’t get that factory new shine but you don’t have to deal with the pins. I’m also concerned with getting the brass too clean, causing galling when seating bullets. I just tried rice in a dry tumbler and it does pretty well and leaves the black graphite/ burnt powder on the inside, which is not a bad thing. Enjoy tour videos, Thanks.
Wow thanks for making this comparison. Ive seen countless people on the tube and web saying that vibratory is quicker than the others without counting in the drying ofc. Seems thats not the case!
I found that wet tumbling vs dry tumbling is all about patience. You have to dry tumble 12 to 48 hours, or longer, but you get simular results to wet tumbling, even clean primer pockets.
Excellent! thank you for the video. I have used a dry tumbler for 20 years or so, switched to a FA wet tumbler a few years back. I really like the results of the wet tumbler with a dash of dawn and a little lemmi shine. The problem for me is I don't reload large lots of ammo so the FA is total overkill. I was considering an ultrasonic but after watching this I think I will just buy one of the small rock tumblers and use it with the stainless pins.
Been using a Midway corn-cob- media-fed tumbler since day one, circa 1990. Couple tablespoons of Midway Citrus Scented brass polish, and an hour or so later the results on range worn cases, are worthy of display in a Tiffany's showcase! Transfer time from tumbler to loading-bench-ready, is usually less than ten minutes for a full run of like-new-clean, and dry brass. There's always something new or evolving under the sun, with any hobby or pastime. I've got scores of golf clubs to bear witness to that assertion. For me the results, convenience, and cost (think I paid $69 for the tumbler, $10 for the media, and $3 for the brass polish; still using the same ingredients today) generally dictate whether to stay with what works for me, or go with what's new, popular, or works better for everyone else. Unlike some handloaders, I don't shoot thousands of rounds a year; more like a few hundred, through about thirty different calibers. So...I'm good. Guns N Basses Forever! 🔫🎸
After the ultrasonic, I rinse, tumble in a towel, then anneal. The annealing brings up the temperature enough to thoroughly dry the case. It also tumbles it so the water does not stand and dry with calcium deposits.
I agree. I use the SS pins. You use a plastic media separator to separate the pins from the brass. I use a sneaker rack lined with dog screen to dry the brass in the clothes dryer. The cases get clean and shiny inside and out.
I use all 3. This video just reminded me In need to get up out of bed and go turn my tumbler off. I actually prefer dry tumbling on rifle brass that’s not horrible dirty because I think it’s quicker. Toss it in, go about your day, come back later and pull it out. Wet tumbling is great and I do use wet tumbling. No doubt it does the best job the fastest run time. But you have to sort those dang pins and dry your brass. I like using no pins anymore. It’s doing as good a job and no pins to separate. Speeds it up a lot. I do that on large lots of pistol brass a lot. I never use my ultrasonic for brass anymore. Just gun parts now.
I think a lot of people would choose dry tumbling over wet if they could only pick one if they knew ahead of time how much extra work and time goes into the rinsing and drying and pin removal afterward.
I've tried all 3 but since I've switched to the wet tumbler that is all I use. I tried the pins but they are a giant pain to separate. Now I just hot water and Frankford Arsenal cleaner. Does a great job.
I use the old way (regular tumbler) then resize. This way the media dust kinda lubes the case. Also, I drop in a few hundred bullets without thinking and leave it tumbling until I am ready to resize. Then I use the wet tumble, that makes the brass shine and cleans the primer pocket really good. Thanks for the video.
Very telling video. I've always dry tumbled w/ corn cob media - 50+ plus years. Got to take another look at the stainless steel wet tumbling setup. Just don't like the wet clean-up and drying of the brass after. I like to be able to tumble, reload, shoot. I made a DIY timer that turns the tumbler off after about 3 hours. While I'm in dialysis for 3 1/2 hours, I tumble brass.
You would have gotten the same result running the Thumbers Tumbler for 20-30 minutes. An hour is way more than I have to put brass in there. Like you said though, if you are in a hurry the dry media works well as you don't have to dry it.
Very helpful. I've been reloading almost 2 years now, but dont have a tumbler. I've always at most, rinsed them off with soap and water. Was looking at Sonic and Vibratory last night.
I now own all three myself. I plan on using the sonic cleaner for 5 minutes with Iosso Brass Cleaner to pre-soften the carbon and then the wet tumbler with dish soap and steel pins to finish up. The vibratory tumbler will be used with crushed walnut hulls with jeweler's rouge for getting the lube off of the cases once sized and put a high shine at the same time. Then I will wipe them down with a clean rag to be sure and remove any film on the out side of the case.
Cool video! I only use my Lyman dry tumbler for powder coating now. The Frankford with pins works so much faster. I did ruin some 45acp with way too much lemishine when I first got it. Great video X-RING
I can't argue that wet tumbling with steel pins doesn't do a fantastic job of cleaning the cases. It's when the timer goes off and I have to separate the pins and rinse and dry the brass that I start to hate wet tumbling i didn't get great results from the vibratory tumbler, but it only took a few minutes to separate the walnut shell from the cases and I was done.
Once you wet tumble you'll never go back. The brass is a clean as new inside and out. My Dillon tumbler is now used only for removing lube on cases after prepping, it's pretty fast for that at and can handle large volumes. I bought the Extreme Rebel 17 Rotary Tumbler, it's pricey but quality built and quiet, plus wearable parts are replaceable to it'll last forever, nothing made of plastic to break.
@X-Ring We definitely like the rotary tumblers. Have the FA rotary tumbler, affectionately known as the FART. Good end result especially when hot water is used. We reload our training brass for various classes. Since the number of cases for a single class can easily exceed 3500, we got one of those small cheap concrete mixers from Home Depot (about $199 on sale), a bunch of SS media and use the same method as for the smaller FA rotary. Works great and you can do a bunch at one time.
So I always deprime all my cases 1st then use my commercial grade Ultrasonic Cleaner set at 200 degrees temp. For 30 minutes with just dawn dish soap and half a teaspoon of lemi shine. Prime pockets and inside case come out spotless. Then I Rinse ,dry then resize then I wet tumble without stainless steel media. Just super hot water, Dawn dish soap and Lemi shine to remove cast lube and my brass comes out better than new 😁👊👍
@@Tallhorse89 There's a lot of options, i use a Frankfort arsenal universal deprimer if I'm just in front of the tv and not paying much attention but I actually found it faster and get better results with a lee classic and a small mallet if I took the time to make an alignment disk for it.
I used walnut media in a vibratory tumbler for years then my son got a nat geo rock tumbler for xmas, I bought some s/s pins, some citric acid and some washing up liquid and gave it a go. Now I dont use the the vibratory tumbler and my son doesn't have a rock tumbler and my brass is very shiny haha. Seriously I would never go back to walnut/corn media now, the s/s pins does a great job in a fraction of the time.
After watching several videos on UA-cam I built my own wet tumbler out of a clothes dryer motor and some spindles and belt off of a treadmill I picked up at the local salvage yard for free. I use lemishine, dawn, hot water and stainless media and it works great.
Nicky neat but I've been loading since 1986 and have always used the large Dillon vibratory tumbler. It is enclosed and does not create dust. My cases are clean, safe for reloading, and since I'm not interesting in impressing myself with how shiny I can get brass since I will soon dirty it again, my results are excellent. I load for 17 different calibers and for Class 3 firearms that cost as much as some cars. The result is I keep shooting and do not waste time staring at my cases.
I picked up two rock tumblers at harbor freight add stainless pins, dawn, and one cap of turtle wax and brass is clean and shiny. Can get 60 to 70 pcs of brass per tumbler.
Walnut media with some brass polish is best for the initial cleaning. Corn cob with brass polish is best used to get your sizing lube off of your cases and give them a final polish. About an hour to an hour and a half in the walnut and about two hours in the corn cob.
I've heard a lot of people complaining about getting the necks too clean with ultra sonic and wet tumbling. Have you gone down that rabbit hole? I'm still using walnut in a dry tumbler but the dust is killing me with the liquid lanolin.
I use a combo of both stainless pins and corn cob. Rinse the brass and shake dry after the pins. Then corn cob takes the moisture away in 15 minutes. No oven required.
Very interesting. Some precision load work ups would be cool too. Different powders, bullet weights and shapes, seating depths and barrel twist would be very informative. I'm particularly interested in 6.5 Grendel right now.
Nice video for comparsion of the different options for cleaning our once fired brass! I have a Lyman 1200 Vibratory tumbler which I have had many 40+ years and still going strong. I then decided to try the RCBS Ultrasonic (original), latest and greatest at the time. Then I have the Frankford Arsenal Stainless Steel Pins. All these will work to a certain degree for cleaning and to shine them. The longest being the Vibratory to get that almost like new shiny look. The stainless steel pins work extremely well for even the primer pocket to get clean, however you will need a dryer unit and I have a food dehydrator, since the company's at the time didn't have such. Stainless pins work well for most of my pistols and rifle, however recently I purchased some 'Southern Shine Media' from TB Bullets for concern of bottleneck rifle brass. This media is Stainless Steel Chips, you thought pins are small, these are much smaller to get into those recess's like primmer flash hole and not get stuck in bottleneck rifle brass. Purchase a magnet like Frankfort Aresenal sells, works for those pins and the chips which just hard to pick up with a finger. I used the chips on some 223/556 brass and it cleaned them well. Get the screening basket from Lyman (2 parts to setup), or the Frankford Arsenal screens that go into the lid of that system. Be careful opening, the pins and chips stick everywhere that has water, however I did find the chips didn't stick to the lid as much as the pins (observation). Dump the dirty water, then rinse, I then put them in my brass separator, with water in the bottom high enough to reach the lower part of the separator basket. The water will break the surface tension of the pins or chips and will fall to the bottom after several rotation of the separator. Chips all fell into the bottom and very few dropped into the bottom of my dehydrator when brass/pins/chips was dry. Maybe a few more rotations and all the chips whould have been separated. Well this is how I am cleaning my brass for pistol and rifle. Don't forget the Limmey Shine or a Rinse Agent to avoid spots when drying. Stainless takes more steps but they sure look nice at the end. Best to all, sorry so long.
My process is pretty involved I start by cleaning the brass with acetone and then I size in D prime and then I put the brass in the steel pin Tumblr and then I’ll take it out of there and put it in my dryer rack and then I go to the corn cob with the Dillon polish by time I get done it is so clean and bright and makes everybody else is ammo look like crap but it is absolutely clean there is a speck of carbon anywhere. I found out with the steel pens if you don’t polish it’ll dial in a short period of time especially if you start handling the brass the same with the ultrasonic it’ll do the same thing that’s why I go to the corn cob in the polish make sure that stays nice and bright. I know some people don’t care what it looks like but it’s embarrassing to go to the gun range and you got crappy looking ammo.
I have heard some guys are substituting automotive car wash'n wax soap into their wet tumblers in place of the Dawn dish soap and it supposedly keeps the brass shiny for a long time similar to dry tumbling with a polish.
I hate to say it, but your thumb was pressing pretty hard on the scale in this comparison. The tumbler and ultrasonic cleaners both had chemicals added; however, no polish or cut up dryer sheets in the vibratory case cleaner. Also it would take 3 minutes to separate those cases from the crushed walnut. How long does it take to rinse and dry cases coming out of the ultrasonic cleaner? Same for the tumbler plus whatever you need to do to ensure there aren’t any steel pins stuck in cases, especially primer holes. If you added polish and dryer sheets to the tumbler and ran it for the additional time needed to rinse and dry cases for the other 2 methods, would these results be so different? Vibratory cleaners are very loud. I also have read that the dust is bad for you. For both of those reasons I run mine in the garage. 2-3 hours gets my cases as clean as I need them to be. I got an ultrasonic cleaner when they first became affordable. It worked fine, but the rinsing and drying took additional time and I don’t have a sink in my workshop. It’s great for cleaning carbon crusted gun parts. The steel pin tumblers produce “good as new” brass. That’s cool but I’ll stick with “clean enough”. - Elmer F.
That lemishine stuff works great to get carbon off your muzzle brakes also. Just mix a little in a cup with water, toss your brake in for 15-30 mins, then pull it out and brush of the carbon.
Do you use an additive to help the cleaning process in the Dillon tumbler with the corn cob? Seems that constantly ordering the polish solution is expensive and getting worse every month especially with shipping costs constantly on the rise
Not even going to comment on ultrasonic.. While I admit steel pin washing does perform better, having to worry about rinsing, drying, and making sure you get all the pins out, I'll just stick with my dry media. I have that same Dillon tumbler, and it is a powerhouse compared to my 25 year old Midway tumbler that it replaced... I just let it run overnight in the garage, it does a damn fine job, and can hold a TON of cases.
Stainless steel pins, hot water, dawn dish soap and lemmi-shine for brass. Always deprime first! Cheap food dehydrator from Amazon for drying. Ultrasonic cleaner with hot water and Simple Green HD (safe for all metals) for cleaning handguns, reloading dies and AR Bolt Carriers. Rinse with hot water, then air compressor to dry.
Great video thank you sir very informative I was thinking about getting a dry media tumbler but now that I seen your video might try to see about the SS tumbler
Nothing wrong with dry tumbling. This comparison isn't exactly fair to the dry tumbler either because it doesn't include the time it takes to rinse and dry the cases from the wet tumbler or ultrasonic cleaner. Wet and dry tumbling both work great but are different in a few key areas. Just make sure you do plenty of research on both processes before you buy to make sure you end up with the one that works best for you.
I prefer sonic for 20 min with dawn and lemishine. Rinse then wet tumble with dawn again. Rinse, dry (old food dehydrator cheap and quick) then I like to tumble with nu-finish and walnut media for a polish. Yes takes time but the results are great and the polish really helps keep the tarnish down in long term storage. Good point on the lemishine it pulls the zinc out of the brass, not just bring it to the surface. Prolonged exposure will weaken the brass and shorten the life significantly. I will not let it sit in brass for long. Remember it is an acid, acids love to dissolve metals!
I have a different model of Thummler and use ceramic media and some cleaner I don't remember but a little goes a long way. Your brass looks like my black powder brass. The lead in the dry media dust is the main reason I went with a wet tumbler. Plus, the media will literally last longer than you will.
Day in day out I like the “old school” tumbler. Simple and effective. One hour is not enough time in a tumbler. I have a Hornady sonic cleaner. It doesn’t process enough at one time for me but it is great for cleaning AR parts. Wet tumbling gets brass the “shiniest “ but way too much work separating pins and drying etc... Soooooo I prefer to tumble for what it’s worth.
There's a trick to using a magnet inside an inside-out ziplock bag... and finding the right sieve that's got BARELY small enough holes to catch all your brass.
Have a vibratory, wondering about how well the ultrasonic does on suppressors. Have a mystic X that's filthy I need to find a way to clean. Nothing I spray it with does a thing. Even brake clean
Ultrasonics can help clean suppressors, especially if you use some of the special concoctions on silencer talk. Be careful putting Aluminum in an Ultrasonic. The best way I know is to find someone with a blasting cabinet and use some psi aluminum oxide. Will make it like new again.
I use both the stainless steel pins and the corn cob media. I use the stainless steel pins to clean my brass. Then once it's dry, I use the corn cob media to polish. My brass comes out looking like new. A little bit more work, but I think it's worth it.
Thanks for this. I currently use a cheap ultrasonic cleaner for 9mm and they are pretty clean and shiny inside and out but I do like the bling finish with the steel pins. However, the extra work and time required to "de-pin" is a bit of a negative.
i use lyman turbo cleaner with a tea spoon of citric acid cleans them very well when i want a really nice shine i put them in the corn cob media after for a hour
Two things, 1: I run a tumbler for three hours and the brass is spotless when done NO CHEMICALS to worry about. 2: I run a Omega 300 suppressor with an anchor brake on the end of it and my brass on a variety of calibers NEVER looks that dirty or even close to it.
SS Pin tumbler, soft water, a few drops of dawn (varies with how dirty the brass is), and about .5-.75 oz RCBS Ultrasonic cleaner solution. 1 hour for lightly dirty brass - 11/2-2hrs for really dirty brass. Comes out looking like new.
Pretty much same experience I have . Still have my sonic cleaner and it only worked better if you use something like citric acid, hornady or lumen stuff worked decently but not as good as wet tumbling. I use a Dawn and whatever I wind in food store that has citric acid in it . Occasionally I forget about it and leave it overnight in it and that's when you get that pinkish brass:):)
I use purple cleaner to clean the stainless pins every 3 to 5 use and keeps the pins clean and cleans the brass better and won’t leave that dingy color afterwards..
Iv been using the Thumblers Tumbler for decades, lemi shine and dawn with ceramic media.I replaced those wing nuts on the lid, ordered some knurled knobs from Enco.
Very good video. I bought a Hornady sonic cleaner several years ago when Ammo was scarce for reloading pistol ammo. For the most part the Hornady worked pretty good. I think I got better results on my pistol brass and you got on the Grendel brass, Possibly due to the fact that you used a suppressor. One thing I never liked about the Hornady cleaner is the heat mode. It seemed to leave the brass tarnished.
I have used both ultrasonics and steel tumbler media to clean brass. I think the ultrasonic you used might be a tad bit underpowered. Also, I have found Brass Juice really makes a huge difference with both methods, and with straight walled cartridges, I can't see any difference between the two. With bottle neck cartridges, the ultrasonic energy seems to get dampened by the constriction, so I have found steel tumbling medium to be slightly better in those cases. However, ultrasonic cleaning will still get satisfactory results, and you don't have the pain of separating out the brass from the media. I have wonered if cleaning brass is actually necessary for accuracy. It really does take alot of time. I note the benchrest shooters at our range during their competitions, reload on the spot and don't clean the brass, other than just wiping off the ourside of the cases. It doesn't seem to effect theiraccuracy at all. Maybe at longer distances it might be somewhat critical. Don't know if anyone has tested this out to see if there is any difference.
I use the frankford and works great I also use dawn and lemi shine and have great results with it but if you buy the frankford wet brass cleaning solution it comes out even brighter
Hi X-Ring, you seem very knowledgeable on tumblers and media. What do you recommend for a 304 SS, 4in. cube with various island pockets (about 9 lbs.). Looking to remove tool marks and get a high shine. Great content!
I have used a media (walnut) tumbler for years but have been interested in wet tumbling for awhile. This is a good video but clearly the preferred tumbler was obvious before the test began. I would like to see a cost comparison between the tumblers and cost for each of the cleaners as well as maybe completing the test on each of the cleaners using NO ADDITIVES and another test using the recommend or preferred additives/cleaners to make a good comparison. Besides that, thanks for the video. My search for an apples to apples comparison continues.
Go down to the laundry room and get a fabric softener and cut into 4 pieces or smaller. Put in vibratory cleaner and there will be no walnut dust problem. Add a little polish and the brass will look like new. Just cleaned 1000 45acp brass. The hard part now is casting and lubing a 1000 185 gr H&G bullets..
I just got the F.A.R.T lite last month and it’s worth every penny. Also if you have a couple different case trimmers can you compare them. I’m looking at buying either a rcbs Lyman or hornady and they all seem pretty much the same. Thanks for another great video
You helped me make up my mind, I am switching to metallic media. I would suggest doing some furher investigation on the powder you use. Seems like your cases are getting way too dirty for just being fired once. Thanks for your video.
Here is a trick for you. When your done rinsing and getting all pins out, stuff the tumbler with the brass you just cleaned and a couple 12" x 12" or so micro towels and let it run for 15 minutes. Brass dry and shiny. No more ovens, dehydrators or waiting for it to dry in open air!!!!! Try it, you'll like it😀
Just tried a borrowed wet tumbler. Jeez it was a PITA separating those bloody pins from the wet brass!
@@the45er Use a magnet. The stainless pins I have can be picked up with a magnet. In fact Franford arsenal makes a tumbler pin magnet for just that.
Wet tumble. Love it. I live in Texas so drying goes quick for most of the year. Just a bit of time in the sun.
I still run a vibratory cleaner . It's what I started with at a time when that was state of the art . (Been a minute ! ) I still load on a single stage press too . As you can tell I'm not in much of a hurry !! LOL!!
Single stage press gives you far better precision than any progressive does. I load on TWO single stage presses (tempted to add a third) so I don't have to keep swapping out dies. 8)
@Wayne Smith I use a RockChucker for my primary press... but I don't subject my secondary press to any large stress so I just use a cheap little Lee for that.
@@timhofstetter5654 Buy the cheap Lee "O" press and get the " Ram Prime II" kit , and use it as a dedicated priming platform... precise, great feel for seating, super easy to feel when the primer is properly bottomed-out without crushing or leaving one " high".
@@scottcrawford3745 I refuse to install a prime arm on my press (which was equipped with a prime arm but I removed it); a prime arm is an excellent way to have a small explosion right on the press. Instead, I just grab up a few flats of primers and my Lee Auto Prime (round tray) and take them to the living room where I can hand-prime all evening. No press can give me THAT level of sensitivity.
I did buy the cheapo G-shaped Lee press; I have my powder measure set up on that right now. Saves me a breakdown / setup, and I can seat bullets immediately after charging the cases.
BTW... Lee has discontinued the press-mounted feeder...
I accidentally forgot about my brass in a corn cob media in my thumblers tumbler for 2 days. It came out pretty dang shiny.
No Doubt!! Two days will do it.
8) 8) 8) 8) 8)
I routinely let my dillion run 24 hours but at max capacity of cases does great
I usually use a lyman corn cob tumbler for 12 hrs - the media comes out fairly black!
Protip: You do not have to buy new media; put the dirty corn cob in an old cut off stocking tie the end off and wash it well in a laundry tub with detergent. spread on trays in a very low oven to dry and its like new. I have not bought any new media for 12 years this way lol
Same…
That was exactly the progression I went through to end up with the FA and steel media. Never had cleaner brass! Great video!!
Thanks much. I'm just starting reloading and this video was a big help!
best video on case cleaning i have ever seen. great comparison.
I started with a vibratory cleaner which does make a lot of dust and my cases didn’t get very clean. The media was everywhere and more than often clogged the primer pockets. When I purchased a Frankford Arsenal wet tumbler and the difference was like day and night. I also incorporated a case drier into my cleaning procedure, now my cases are clean and dry. Another thing to take into consideration is your lead level. My level was at twelve using a vibratory cleaner and went to five after making the change. The following year I started to use D-Lead soap every time I handled ammo components and my lead level is now at three. I also use the cleaner additive that came from Frankford Arsenal and it does better than all the other formulas off the internet.
I use a FA wet tumbler, works amazing! Your ammo/component stash is unreal!!
Yup I’m sold I’m getting a wet tumbler I have 500 really dirty old tarnished even a tiny bit of rusty gold medal match casings and my media tumblers not doing the job at all
Thank you for this awesome comparison I’ve been watching so many videos and no one’s done a straight forward test like this thank you very much it’s made my choice between ultrasonic and wet tumbling so much easier
Been using splash of simple green in water with stainless pins in rotary tumbler for a long time. I separate pins, do a quick fresh water rinse and then air dry. Works very well. I’ve heard food dehydrators do very well speeding up the dry time.
I have the Hornady never had any issues with it I use cap full of the Hornady cleaner and a dash of dawn dish soap works wonders, as far as the heat goes on there it can get super hot if it is super dirty brass I will usually run it for 30 mins no heat then change out water and add fresh cleaner and run for 30 mins with heat. We all have our little tricks we have learned over the course of our adventures
Thanks for sharing CrazyScotsman! I still haven’t found anything that works as well as the steel pins though. It is interesting to hear all the different methods. Thanks for sharing .
Ultrasonic cleaners actually heat the water while they are running even without an external heat source. If I remember correctly it is due to all of the friction caused by the ultrasonic waves. It takes a fair amount of time for this action to heat up a solution so they put heaters in some ultrasonic units or recommend starting with warm water to ensure that you are cleaning more efficiently at the start.
I use a sonic cleaner on heat with distilled water and Simple Clean to get the grime off of it, rinse them then dry and run through the dry tumbler with corn cob media with Dillons polish to polish the brass up and they come out looking brand new with a high polish. I would compare it to a new Hornady case and they look pretty similar.
That's what I do as well only I've used Frankfurt's polish. They look like factory new cases.
Feed this mixture into your ultrasonic cleaner and let it run it for just 15-20 minutes at 150-160 F (65-70 C), it will be cleaner than anything you see here on the inside (outside similar to the rotary trumbler).
1 quart of tap water (approx. 1 liter)
1 cup of vinegar (approx. 2,5 deciliter)
1 tablespoon of salt (normal salt used for cooking)
1 tablespoon of dishwashing liquid (I suggest using a good one)
You can use the mixture several times but I suggest leaving it at the local recycling plant when it is no longer effective, it contains a lot of lead etc (DONT pour into the drain).
Greetings from Sweden.
I use a lyman vibritory and it has a vented lid. I placed a heavy terry cloth towel and then carbon filter between lid and bowl. It collects all dust. Can be washed or replaced inexpensively. Towels .50$ at wally world and filter under 10$ that can be cut into many. I also add fitz pollish to media (walnut untreated) and pollish's nice and keeps finver prints from setting in brass. But do have to run fo about 2 to 3 hours on really dirty stuff.
By your testing, wet tumbling was the clear winner for one hour. Dry tumbling goes longer. A better test would involve cost, time, value, etc... I dry tumble and not seen the need for wet. Brass comes out great. I go from 1-4 hours depending if I remember its running in the shed. :-) Soon as it's cleaned, it's reloaded and soon after, unloaded. Just cannot fathom the effort for wet cleaning unless you're making a presentation bullet.
Wet tumbling is supposed to remove almost all of the lead from the priming compound. Wet tumbling, media separation and drying takes about an hour longer per gallon of brass though. Honestly, it's a tedious pain.
Unless maybe I was running 1ce fired brass that was already pretty clean, I still had brass come out dirty after 3 hours in the vibratory tumbler, where the wet tumbled brass is shiny and looks almost new. I never tried corncob, I always used walnut, which I heard was better.
@@TheSuburban15 corncob does break down. i prefer a Walnut as well. i usually load up the vibratory Tumblr and let it run overnight with about a tablespoon of brass polish in it.
the biggest issue with ultrasonic cleaners is the duty cycle. most will only run at about 10 minutes per cycle, and you're not supposed to run more than about 45 minutes continuous or the transducers can burn out.
@@Sartek If I tried to run a tumbler overnight, I'm pretty sure one of the neighbors would destroy it.
wet tumbling gets inside the neck & CASE better than dry tumbling
I wet tumble. Used to use pins but switched to stainless granules. Small enough to easily empty out of the 223 but large enough to not plug the flash hole. Larger granules can sometimes stay behind in the brass after tumbling. After rinsing, I use the media separator to get most of the water out, dump them in an old towel and shake them up, dump them in another towel, shake them up again and then lay them out on a dry towel to finish drying. Brass looks like jewelry.
Love my Thumblers Tumbler. Had it for years and it works great. I use it for brass of course, but also suppressor pistons and SS baffles.
Nice! I use mine for that as well. I did get a LOT of pins stuck in some precarious places in some of them.
@@XRING I get the occasional pins stuck in the flash hole of brass now and then but I sort by headstamp so its easy to spot. I've never had any issues with pins getting stuck in suppressor pistons or baffles though. One gallon of water, two tablespoons of Dawn, and one teaspoon of Lemi Shine does the trick for me on a full load.
Couple of observations, I use a Franklin tumbler with dawn and lime shine no SS pins. Repurposed an old food dehydratator to dry. Makes the process pretty simple 3 hour turn around. I do this for rifle and pistol. Thanks for all the videos.
I have heard of some good results wet tumbling with no pins. Although I can typically get my brass clean enough in my dry tumbler in an hour to an hour and a half and I don't have to worry about drying time. I am running pure walnut media with about a cap full of 3M polish at the start of each run.
I have been reloading 40 years , media tumbled , ultra sonick and now I " wet tumble " with the stainless pins . I have some media tumblers and two ultra sonic's for sale ! You really need the whole " wet tumble " package to make it fast . I have the tumbler of course , but I also purchased the " rotary basket separator " and " the heat dryer " . The basket separator removes all the pins from my cases quickly and makes it simple to place them back into the tumbler , my dryer has 6 trays and a fan with heat and drys cases in less than an hour. The beauty of wet tumbling is the cases look brand new , the inside of the case is just as clean as the outside and the primer pockets are clean . I love it , on a day off I have wet tumbled 3,000 5.56 cases in a day in between loading. The only down side of the wet tumbler is that you really need an outside sink with water if you like being married " which I do " Both , have an outside sink and like being married .
Just a suggestion for the dry media vibratory tumbler, try using 1 o 2 sheets of USED dryer softener sheets (each cut in half to help with wrapping around you center post) This helps with the dust problem. Just a thought.
6.5 Guys did this on their videos as well
I was on a budget and bought a rock tumbler and stainless pins. I run 50 for about 1.5 hours.Works real well. Just time consuming rinsing and drying as you described.
Thanks again
Thanks for sharing the feedback and thank you for watching the video!
Add some white vinegar to the ultrasonic cleaner. That mild acid helps clean the primer pockets much better. I use a bit of Dawn, Lemi Shine and about a half cup of vinegar. Works great. To dry, I place them on a cookie sheet, with a towel between the brass and the cookie sheet, and place them in a 200 degree oven for about a half hour. In the summer, it's much easier since I can just place the cookie sheet out in the hot sun (in Texas) for about an hour. There's no need to buy an expensive brass dryer. Just get an inexpensive food dehydrator and use that to dry your brass. I'll be buying one soon.
I run an ultrasonic cleaner with dish soap and Lemi shine instead of the Lyman brass cleaner I was using first. I get brand new looking brass after two 25 minute cycles at 104deg. This includes spotless primer pockets as well as the entire interior of the case. I then rinse them with warm water in a colander in the sink and dry them in walnut media(from the pet store reptile section). Without the walnut tumble they are clean but slightly less glossy and you can see the scratches that they've picked up from resizing and/or cycling in semi-auto. BTW I deprime as first step. If the cases are covered in mud or carbon then I tumble them in walnut for 30 minutes before deprime. This works great for me for about 3 years and has kept me from considering a wet tumbler. I couldn't get them any cleaner, and I'd still be doing a wash-->rinse-->dry. Which is still 3 steps.
This is the comment I was looking for. Thank you.
have a frankford arsenal platinum that I wet tumble with steel media... Does a great job.
Nice! I think the Frankfords are hard to beat for the money.
I used mine for the first time today and it took a bit for it to start tumbling but once it was it did a great job
Have the same Tumblr and then I use a food dehydrator to dry the breast
Change the subject a little , I learned something yesterday. That a few of the new pistol finishes on the market can not be cleaned in a ultra sonic cleaner nor can quite a few nite sights without damage. And that is from the manufacturers.
Great to know Gun Fischer. Thanks for the comment.
Over the years I have tried all 3...and hands down the wet tumbling with stainless pins is by far the best for clean brass.
The Lemi-shine is used to "soften" the water so the detergent cleans better. If you have really hard water you will need to use a tad more then someone who has very soft water. And NEVER leave brass in the tumbler overnight! LOL
I won a Lyman wet tumbler and media separator and they have both given me great service!
Awesome comment Papas Place. It seems that the wet steel pins wins it. Thanks for the tips .
What if you have a water softener? Would you need the lemi-shine?
@@hub_s550 I believe the Lemi-shine aids in cleaning as well. If you are worried about it try it without on a batch of brass and with on another and see which turns out better. Just go easy on the lemi-shine a little goes a very long way. More than a teaspoon is typically a waste and too much can turn the brass funny colors.
I have all 3 types of cleaners. The stainless pins with Dawn and Lemishine works the best in the shortest time but you have to take into account the drying time. I use a food dehydrator to dry mine. I only use the ultrasonic cleaner to clean gun parts now. It never worked that well for me. I do still use the vibratory cleaner some with brass polish added. It is noisy but I set it up to run and leave it for a couple of hours. I don't like the dust but it works pretty well and I can leave the brass in it if I am in a hurry. Good video by the way.
Thanks Daniel. I agree with you 100% I use all 3 the same way.
I normally run about 1 and a half hours on Frankford Arsenal Platinum with Dawn dish soap and Lemon Shine dishwasher additive. Shine brass makes you happy!
Great video Ray, I’ve been trying a similar way, the wet tumbler without steel pins. You don’t get that factory new shine but you don’t have to deal with the pins. I’m also concerned with getting the brass too clean, causing galling when seating bullets. I just tried rice in a dry tumbler and it does pretty well and leaves the black graphite/ burnt powder on the inside, which is not a bad thing. Enjoy tour videos, Thanks.
Wow thanks for making this comparison. Ive seen countless people on the tube and web saying that vibratory is quicker than the others without counting in the drying ofc. Seems thats not the case!
I found that wet tumbling vs dry tumbling is all about patience.
You have to dry tumble 12 to 48 hours, or longer, but you get simular results to wet tumbling, even clean primer pockets.
Excellent! thank you for the video. I have used a dry tumbler for 20 years or so, switched to a FA wet tumbler a few years back. I really like the results of the wet tumbler with a dash of dawn and a little lemmi shine. The problem for me is I don't reload large lots of ammo so the FA is total overkill. I was considering an ultrasonic but after watching this I think I will just buy one of the small rock tumblers and use it with the stainless pins.
Been using a Midway corn-cob- media-fed tumbler since day one, circa 1990. Couple tablespoons of Midway Citrus Scented brass polish, and an hour or so later the results on range worn cases, are worthy of display in a Tiffany's showcase! Transfer time from tumbler to loading-bench-ready, is usually less than ten minutes for a full run of like-new-clean, and dry brass.
There's always something new or evolving under the sun, with any hobby or pastime. I've got scores of golf clubs to bear witness to that assertion. For me the results, convenience, and cost (think I paid $69 for the tumbler, $10 for the media, and $3 for the brass polish; still using the same ingredients today) generally dictate whether to stay with what works for me, or go with what's new, popular, or works better for everyone else.
Unlike some handloaders, I don't shoot thousands of rounds a year; more like a few hundred, through about thirty different calibers.
So...I'm good.
Guns N Basses Forever! 🔫🎸
After the ultrasonic, I rinse, tumble in a towel, then anneal. The annealing brings up the temperature enough to thoroughly dry the case. It also tumbles it so the water does not stand and dry with calcium deposits.
I agree. I use the SS pins. You use a plastic media separator to separate the pins from the brass. I use a sneaker rack lined with dog screen to dry the brass in the clothes dryer. The cases get clean and shiny inside and out.
I use all 3. This video just reminded me In need to get up out of bed and go turn my tumbler off. I actually prefer dry tumbling on rifle brass that’s not horrible dirty because I think it’s quicker. Toss it in, go about your day, come back later and pull it out. Wet tumbling is great and I do use wet tumbling. No doubt it does the best job the fastest run time. But you have to sort those dang pins and dry your brass. I like using no pins anymore. It’s doing as good a job and no pins to separate. Speeds it up a lot. I do that on large lots of pistol brass a lot. I never use my ultrasonic for brass anymore. Just gun parts now.
I think a lot of people would choose dry tumbling over wet if they could only pick one if they knew ahead of time how much extra work and time goes into the rinsing and drying and pin removal afterward.
I've tried all 3 but since I've switched to the wet tumbler that is all I use. I tried the pins but they are a giant pain to separate. Now I just hot water and Frankford Arsenal cleaner. Does a great job.
I use the old way (regular tumbler) then resize. This way the media dust kinda lubes the case. Also, I drop in a few hundred bullets without thinking and leave it tumbling until I am ready to resize. Then I use the wet tumble, that makes the brass shine and cleans the primer pocket really good. Thanks for the video.
Very telling video. I've always dry tumbled w/ corn cob media - 50+ plus years. Got to take another look at the stainless steel wet tumbling setup. Just don't like the wet clean-up and drying of the brass after. I like to be able to tumble, reload, shoot. I made a DIY timer that turns the tumbler off after about 3 hours. While I'm in dialysis for 3 1/2 hours, I tumble brass.
You would have gotten the same result running the Thumbers Tumbler for 20-30 minutes. An hour is way more than I have to put brass in there. Like you said though, if you are in a hurry the dry media works well as you don't have to dry it.
Thanks Joe, never tried it for that short amount of time. Good to know.
Very helpful. I've been reloading almost 2 years now, but dont have a tumbler. I've always at most, rinsed them off with soap and water. Was looking at Sonic and Vibratory last night.
I now own all three myself. I plan on using the sonic cleaner for 5 minutes with Iosso Brass Cleaner to pre-soften the carbon and then the wet tumbler with dish soap and steel pins to finish up. The vibratory tumbler will be used with crushed walnut hulls with jeweler's rouge for getting the lube off of the cases once sized and put a high shine at the same time. Then I will wipe them down with a clean rag to be sure and remove any film on the out side of the case.
Cool video! I only use my Lyman dry tumbler for powder coating now. The Frankford with pins works so much faster. I did ruin some 45acp with way too much lemishine when I first got it. Great video X-RING
I can't argue that wet tumbling with steel pins doesn't do a fantastic job of cleaning the cases. It's when the timer goes off and I have to separate the pins and rinse and dry the brass that I start to hate wet tumbling i didn't get great results from the vibratory tumbler, but it only took a few minutes to separate the walnut shell from the cases and I was done.
Once you wet tumble you'll never go back. The brass is a clean as new inside and out. My Dillon tumbler is now used only for removing lube on cases after prepping, it's pretty fast for that at and can handle large volumes. I bought the Extreme Rebel 17 Rotary Tumbler, it's pricey but quality built and quiet, plus wearable parts are replaceable to it'll last forever, nothing made of plastic to break.
@X-Ring We definitely like the rotary tumblers. Have the FA rotary tumbler, affectionately known as the FART. Good end result especially when hot water is used. We reload our training brass for various classes. Since the number of cases for a single class can easily exceed 3500, we got one of those small cheap concrete mixers from Home Depot (about $199 on sale), a bunch of SS media and use the same method as for the smaller FA rotary. Works great and you can do a bunch at one time.
Nice Ron! I have heard of quite a few people doing it that way.
Nice, glad I picked the steel media type :) Thx for sharing :)
Thank you Oddur and thanks for watching.
So I always deprime all my cases 1st then use my commercial grade Ultrasonic Cleaner set at 200 degrees temp. For 30 minutes with just dawn dish soap and half a teaspoon of lemi shine. Prime pockets and inside case come out spotless. Then I Rinse ,dry then resize then I wet tumble without stainless steel media. Just super hot water, Dawn dish soap and Lemi shine to remove cast lube and my brass comes out better than new 😁👊👍
Thanks JerrBear. These were de primed as well. I usually just use the sonic cleaner for parts now days. I rarely ever do cases with them any longer.
What are you guys using to deprime first.
@@Tallhorse89
There's a lot of options, i use a Frankfort arsenal universal deprimer if I'm just in front of the tv and not paying much attention but I actually found it faster and get better results with a lee classic and a small mallet if I took the time to make an alignment disk for it.
I used walnut media in a vibratory tumbler for years then my son got a nat geo rock tumbler for xmas, I bought some s/s pins, some citric acid and some washing up liquid and gave it a go. Now I dont use the the vibratory tumbler and my son doesn't have a rock tumbler and my brass is very shiny haha. Seriously I would never go back to walnut/corn media now, the s/s pins does a great job in a fraction of the time.
After watching several videos on UA-cam I built my own wet tumbler out of a clothes dryer motor and some spindles and belt off of a treadmill I picked up at the local salvage yard for free. I use lemishine, dawn, hot water and stainless media and it works great.
That’s awesome! I was in Sportmans Warehouse today and they had packs of stainless media on the shelves.
Ive had my thumblers tumbler for about 10 years. Finally wore out the lid rubber gasket a month ago. Fitted a new one and its back up and running.
Nicky neat but I've been loading since 1986 and have always used the large Dillon vibratory tumbler. It is enclosed and does not create dust. My cases are clean, safe for reloading, and since I'm not interesting in impressing myself with how shiny I can get brass since I will soon dirty it again, my results are excellent. I load for 17 different calibers and for Class 3 firearms that cost as much as some cars. The result is I keep shooting and do not waste time staring at my cases.
I picked up two rock tumblers at harbor freight add stainless pins, dawn, and one cap
of turtle wax and brass is clean and shiny. Can get 60 to 70 pcs of brass per tumbler.
Walnut media with some brass polish is best for the initial cleaning. Corn cob with brass polish is best used to get your sizing lube off of your cases and give them a final polish. About an hour to an hour and a half in the walnut and about two hours in the corn cob.
Awesome! Nice work bud!
Very interesting. Appreciate the data & demonstration.
Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for watching the channel.
I've heard a lot of people complaining about getting the necks too clean with ultra sonic and wet tumbling. Have you gone down that rabbit hole? I'm still using walnut in a dry tumbler but the dust is killing me with the liquid lanolin.
Excellent testing !👍
Great footage !📹
Thanks Jerry. I appreciate it.
Good video comparison. Very informative.
I use a combo of both stainless pins and corn cob. Rinse the brass and shake dry after the pins. Then corn cob takes the moisture away in 15 minutes. No oven required.
Very interesting. Some precision load work ups would be cool too. Different powders, bullet weights and shapes, seating depths and barrel twist would be very informative. I'm particularly interested in 6.5 Grendel right now.
Go look up "Johnny's reloading bench" here on UA-cam. He has a whole series on the Grendel doing just that, it's very detailed.
Nice video for comparsion of the different options for cleaning our once fired brass!
I have a Lyman 1200 Vibratory tumbler which I have had many 40+ years and still going strong. I then decided to try the RCBS Ultrasonic (original), latest and greatest at the time. Then I have the Frankford Arsenal Stainless Steel Pins. All these will work to a certain degree for cleaning and to shine them. The longest being the Vibratory to get that almost like new shiny look. The stainless steel pins work extremely well for even the primer pocket to get clean, however you will need a dryer unit and I have a food dehydrator, since the company's at the time didn't have such.
Stainless pins work well for most of my pistols and rifle, however recently I purchased some 'Southern Shine Media' from TB Bullets for concern of bottleneck rifle brass. This media is Stainless Steel Chips, you thought pins are small, these are much smaller to get into those recess's like primmer flash hole and not get stuck in bottleneck rifle brass. Purchase a magnet like Frankfort Aresenal sells, works for those pins and the chips which just hard to pick up with a finger.
I used the chips on some 223/556 brass and it cleaned them well. Get the screening basket from Lyman (2 parts to setup), or the Frankford Arsenal screens that go into the lid of that system. Be careful opening, the pins and chips stick everywhere that has water, however I did find the chips didn't stick to the lid as much as the pins (observation).
Dump the dirty water, then rinse, I then put them in my brass separator, with water in the bottom high enough to reach the lower part of the separator basket. The water will break the surface tension of the pins or chips and will fall to the bottom after several rotation of the separator. Chips all fell into the bottom and very few dropped into the bottom of my dehydrator when brass/pins/chips was dry. Maybe a few more rotations and all the chips whould have been separated.
Well this is how I am cleaning my brass for pistol and rifle. Don't forget the Limmey Shine or a Rinse Agent to avoid spots when drying. Stainless takes more steps but they sure look nice at the end.
Best to all, sorry so long.
My process is pretty involved I start by cleaning the brass with acetone and then I size in D prime and then I put the brass in the steel pin Tumblr and then I’ll take it out of there and put it in my dryer rack and then I go to the corn cob with the Dillon polish by time I get done it is so clean and bright and makes everybody else is ammo look like crap but it is absolutely clean there is a speck of carbon anywhere. I found out with the steel pens if you don’t polish it’ll dial in a short period of time especially if you start handling the brass the same with the ultrasonic it’ll do the same thing that’s why I go to the corn cob in the polish make sure that stays nice and bright. I know some people don’t care what it looks like but it’s embarrassing to go to the gun range and you got crappy looking ammo.
So it shoots better when it looks nice?
I have heard some guys are substituting automotive car wash'n wax soap into their wet tumblers in place of the Dawn dish soap and it supposedly keeps the brass shiny for a long time similar to dry tumbling with a polish.
@@B4maslowski Depends on how much you shoot and where you get your brass.. Your dies will last longer.
I hate to say it, but your thumb was pressing pretty hard on the scale in this comparison. The tumbler and ultrasonic cleaners both had chemicals added; however, no polish or cut up dryer sheets in the vibratory case cleaner. Also it would take 3 minutes to separate those cases from the crushed walnut. How long does it take to rinse and dry cases coming out of the ultrasonic cleaner? Same for the tumbler plus whatever you need to do to ensure there aren’t any steel pins stuck in cases, especially primer holes.
If you added polish and dryer sheets to the tumbler and ran it for the additional time needed to rinse and dry cases for the other 2 methods, would these results be so different?
Vibratory cleaners are very loud. I also have read that the dust is bad for you. For both of those reasons I run mine in the garage. 2-3 hours gets my cases as clean as I need them to be. I got an ultrasonic cleaner when they first became affordable. It worked fine, but the rinsing and drying took additional time and I don’t have a sink in my workshop. It’s great for cleaning carbon crusted gun parts. The steel pin tumblers produce “good as new” brass. That’s cool but I’ll stick with “clean enough”.
- Elmer F.
That lemishine stuff works great to get carbon off your muzzle brakes also. Just mix a little in a cup with water, toss your brake in for 15-30 mins, then pull it out and brush of the carbon.
Nice! Awesome tip! I will have to try that.
@@XRING for carbines that are pinned, just get the water level right in the cup, and set the rifle in it muzzle down in a corner.
Awesome video, I was going to get an ultrasonic cleaner but seems like steel does the best so I will stick with what I have! Thanks for that!
Do you use an additive to help the cleaning process in the Dillon tumbler with the corn cob? Seems that constantly ordering the polish solution is expensive and getting worse every month especially with shipping costs constantly on the rise
Not even going to comment on ultrasonic.. While I admit steel pin washing does perform better, having to worry about rinsing, drying, and making sure you get all the pins out, I'll just stick with my dry media. I have that same Dillon tumbler, and it is a powerhouse compared to my 25 year old Midway tumbler that it replaced... I just let it run overnight in the garage, it does a damn fine job, and can hold a TON of cases.
been looking at a frankford arsenal looks like you helped with that decision!
I was just trying to decide which tumbler to buy for e first time.
I am glad I did the video. Thanks for watching.
Stainless steel pins, hot water, dawn dish soap and lemmi-shine for brass. Always deprime first! Cheap food dehydrator from Amazon for drying.
Ultrasonic cleaner with hot water and Simple Green HD (safe for all metals) for cleaning handguns, reloading dies and AR Bolt Carriers. Rinse with hot water, then air compressor to dry.
I’d like to see how the ultrasonic does with the Dawn/Lemi Shine solution
How about all three? They are all useful.
I agree. That’s why I still have them. Thanks for watching.
Great video thank you sir very informative I was thinking about getting a dry media tumbler but now that I seen your video might try to see about the SS tumbler
Thanks Gayle. I am glad I did this video, it seems many people liked the comparison.
Nothing wrong with dry tumbling. This comparison isn't exactly fair to the dry tumbler either because it doesn't include the time it takes to rinse and dry the cases from the wet tumbler or ultrasonic cleaner. Wet and dry tumbling both work great but are different in a few key areas. Just make sure you do plenty of research on both processes before you buy to make sure you end up with the one that works best for you.
@@silentbob267 Rinsing/drying a 1 hour wet tumbling job > Scrubbing leftover carbon and dusting off a 3 hour + dry tumbling job!
I prefer sonic for 20 min with dawn and lemishine. Rinse then wet tumble with dawn again. Rinse, dry (old food dehydrator cheap and quick) then I like to tumble with nu-finish and walnut media for a polish. Yes takes time but the results are great and the polish really helps keep the tarnish down in long term storage. Good point on the lemishine it pulls the zinc out of the brass, not just bring it to the surface. Prolonged exposure will weaken the brass and shorten the life significantly. I will not let it sit in brass for long. Remember it is an acid, acids love to dissolve metals!
I have a different model of Thummler and use ceramic media and some cleaner I don't remember but a little goes a long way. Your brass looks like my black powder brass. The lead in the dry media dust is the main reason I went with a wet tumbler. Plus, the media will literally last longer than you will.
Absolutely! I have been using the same steel pins for like 5 years now.
@45 Auto Where do you source the ceramic media?
Day in day out I like the “old school” tumbler. Simple and effective. One hour is not enough time in a tumbler. I have a Hornady sonic cleaner. It doesn’t process enough at one time for me but it is great for cleaning AR parts.
Wet tumbling gets brass the “shiniest “ but way too much work separating pins and drying etc...
Soooooo I prefer to tumble for what it’s worth.
There's a trick to using a magnet inside an inside-out ziplock bag... and finding the right sieve that's got BARELY small enough holes to catch all your brass.
Have a vibratory, wondering about how well the ultrasonic does on suppressors. Have a mystic X that's filthy I need to find a way to clean. Nothing I spray it with does a thing. Even brake clean
Ultrasonics can help clean suppressors, especially if you use some of the special concoctions on silencer talk. Be careful putting Aluminum in an Ultrasonic. The best way I know is to find someone with a blasting cabinet and use some psi aluminum oxide. Will make it like new again.
@@XRING thanks!
Use the sonic cleaner, dry it on a fan then use the tumbler with walnut and it looks like new
I use both the stainless steel pins and the corn cob media. I use the stainless steel pins to clean my brass. Then once it's dry, I use the corn cob media to polish. My brass comes out looking like new. A little bit more work, but I think it's worth it.
Thanks Gregg and thanks for watching.
Does that make any difference to projectile and cartridge performance though?
Wet tumbler, only way to go!!! Mix your favorite cleaner concoction, put the pins and cleaner in and go
That’s right! Best way to go.
Thanks for this. I currently use a cheap ultrasonic cleaner for 9mm and they are pretty clean and shiny inside and out but I do like the bling finish with the steel pins. However, the extra work and time required to "de-pin" is a bit of a negative.
i use lyman turbo cleaner with a tea spoon of citric acid cleans them very well when i want a really nice shine i put them in the corn cob media after for a hour
Two things, 1: I run a tumbler for three hours and the brass is spotless when done NO CHEMICALS to worry about. 2: I run a Omega 300 suppressor with an anchor brake on the end of it and my brass on a variety of calibers NEVER looks that dirty or even close to it.
I think he meant to say subsonic ammo?
@@terrystill30 I think you are right
SS Pin tumbler, soft water, a few drops of dawn (varies with how dirty the brass is), and about .5-.75 oz RCBS Ultrasonic cleaner solution. 1 hour for lightly dirty brass - 11/2-2hrs for really dirty brass. Comes out looking like new.
Pretty much same experience I have . Still have my sonic cleaner and it only worked better if you use something like citric acid, hornady or lumen stuff worked decently but not as good as wet tumbling. I use a Dawn and whatever I wind in food store that has citric acid in it . Occasionally I forget about it and leave it overnight in it and that's when you get that pinkish brass:):)
Good to hear you had the same results. Just thought it would be a good video test.
@@XRING I believe Lemi-shine is primarily citric acid.
I use purple cleaner to clean the stainless pins every 3 to 5 use and keeps the pins clean and cleans the brass better and won’t leave that dingy color afterwards..
Iv been using the Thumblers Tumbler for decades, lemi shine and dawn with ceramic media.I replaced those wing nuts on the lid, ordered some knurled knobs from Enco.
I use the Frankford Arsenal corn Cobb with a brass polish additive it works good but man is it loud I always take it to the other end of the house
Wet tumbling definitely gets you the cleanest brass.
But it's not all that much faster if you factor in the drying time.
Very good video. I bought a Hornady sonic cleaner several years ago when Ammo was scarce for reloading pistol ammo. For the most part the Hornady worked pretty good. I think I got better results on my pistol brass and you got on the Grendel brass, Possibly due to the fact that you used a suppressor. One thing I never liked about the Hornady cleaner is the heat mode. It seemed to leave the brass tarnished.
I have used both ultrasonics and steel tumbler media to clean brass. I think the ultrasonic you used might be a tad bit underpowered. Also, I have found Brass Juice really makes a huge difference with both methods, and with straight walled cartridges, I can't see any difference between the two. With bottle neck cartridges, the ultrasonic energy seems to get dampened by the constriction, so I have found steel tumbling medium to be slightly better in those cases. However, ultrasonic cleaning will still get satisfactory results, and you don't have the pain of separating out the brass from the media.
I have wonered if cleaning brass is actually necessary for accuracy. It really does take alot of time. I note the benchrest shooters at our range during their competitions, reload on the spot and don't clean the brass, other than just wiping off the ourside of the cases. It doesn't seem to effect theiraccuracy at all. Maybe at longer distances it might be somewhat critical. Don't know if anyone has tested this out to see if there is any difference.
I use the frankford and works great I also use dawn and lemi shine and have great results with it but if you buy the frankford wet brass cleaning solution it comes out even brighter
Thanks for the info Nick! Will try it out.
I use store brand liquid dish soap and a little powdered citric acid. I get the same results as shown from the Thimblers timbler.
Hi X-Ring, you seem very knowledgeable on tumblers and media. What do you recommend for a 304 SS, 4in. cube with various island pockets (about 9 lbs.). Looking to remove tool marks and get a high shine. Great content!
I have used a media (walnut) tumbler for years but have been interested in wet tumbling for awhile. This is a good video but clearly the preferred tumbler was obvious before the test began. I would like to see a cost comparison between the tumblers and cost for each of the cleaners as well as maybe completing the test on each of the cleaners using NO ADDITIVES and another test using the recommend or preferred additives/cleaners to make a good comparison. Besides that, thanks for the video. My search for an apples to apples comparison continues.
I'm wet tumbling and dry tumbling and have similar results to you. One perk to dry tumbling is you can dry brass after wet tumbling. Enjoyed the vid.
Thanks Steve H and thanks for watching. I thought it was a good topic to put to a video.
Go down to the laundry room and get a fabric softener and cut into 4 pieces or smaller. Put in vibratory cleaner and there will be no walnut dust problem. Add a little polish and the brass will look like new. Just cleaned 1000 45acp brass. The hard part now is casting and lubing a 1000 185 gr H&G bullets..
I just got the F.A.R.T lite last month and it’s worth every penny. Also if you have a couple different case trimmers can you compare them. I’m looking at buying either a rcbs Lyman or hornady and they all seem pretty much the same. Thanks for another great video
You helped me make up my mind, I am switching to metallic media. I would suggest doing some furher investigation on the powder you use. Seems like your cases are getting way too dirty for just being fired once. Thanks for your video.